Mangalore: Child trafficking - Accused woman's 2-year-old daughter rescued
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jul 28: A day after a child trafficking case was busted in the city through an undercover operation planned by the childline and carried out by social activist Vidya Dinker with the help of anganwadi teacher Rehana and a journalist, the childline with the help of Konaje police on Saturday July 27 rescued another child that was meant for trafficking.
On Friday July 26, three persons - Lenita Veigas, her husband Jossey Veigas and the rescued baby's mother Rangavva were arrested in a joint operation by the childline with the help of city crime branch and the DCIB police. Ullal police had taken custody of the three accused. The baby was handed over to the care of child welfare committee.
On interrogation, it was learnt that Rangavva had another girl child, aged 2, and Lenita had planned to sell her too. The police received information that the child was alone in a hut at a quarry in Fajir, Bantwal, while Rangavva was in Badami. The childline team with the help of Konaje police went to Fajir and rescued the child and handed her over to the child welfare committee. It is learnt that though the child belongs to Rangavva, she had given the mother's name as Geeta while putting the child in anganwadi.
On July 15, the childline received a call about child trafficking taking place in a house at Bajal. On July 17, the team visited Lenita's house and found a three-month-old baby and grew suspicious, however, Lenita insisted that the baby was hers. Lenita herself has a baby that is three-and-a-half months old, and when the childline team asked for proof, she showed her own baby's documents claiming them to be those of the rescued baby.
The team then enquired with the neighbours, and also at an anganwadi, where Rehana, a teacher there, gave them important information. Rehana told the team that Lenita's mother Lucy had approached saying that her daughter had bought a three-month-old baby from a quarry worker in Fajir, and wanted to sell the baby. She asked Rehana to furnish documents to help them carry out their plan, but Rehana refused.
However, in order to expose the accused, Rehana pretended as a mediator and told Lucy that a family from abroad was interested in buying the baby for any amount. She also recorded parts of their conversation as evidence. At the same time, Lenita sensed that people in the vicinity had grown suspicious about child trafficking and told Rehana that she would take the baby to its mother Rangavva for four days and then sell it after necessary documents are prepared by the lawyer.
Meanwhile, on the request of childline, Vidya Dinker came into the scene, donning the role of a Muslim woman from Dubai. She introduced herself as 'Zohra' to Lenita and asked her to sell the baby. Lenita told her to meet near a college at Konaje on July 24, but when Dinker went there along with policemen at the appointed time, Lenita was nowhere to be seen, and did not turn up. Next day, Lenita told Dinker that she wanted to meet her first before finalizing the deal. Accordingly, Dinker, dressed in a burkha, met her, accompanied by three other women who acted as her family. Lenita did not recognize Dinker even after she showed her face.
Lenita also learnt that the childline team was after her, and in fact, when confronted, she had even claimed to be a reported of a Delhi-based media, and threatened the childline officials of dire consequences. Nevertheless, as a precaution, she told Dinker not to contact her for four days. She said that she had taken the help of a lawyer to sell the baby. On the advice of the lawyer, she brought the baby's mother Rangavva to Mangalore from Badami and kept her at her home. She asked Dinker to meet her at Thokkottu children's clinic on July 26 and demanded Rs 2 lac in exchange for the baby and an additional Rs 75,000 for getting documents ready.
Superintendent of police Abhishek Goyal and police commissioner Manish Karbikar, who were informed of these developments, then planned the operation with the childline team and arrested Lenita, Rangavva and Jossey red-handed.